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Bois des Geants - dolmen 6 (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Bois des Geants - dolmen 6</b>Posted by Moth<b>Bois des Geants - dolmen 6</b>Posted by Moth<b>Bois des Geants - dolmen 6</b>Posted by Moth

Bois des Geants - dolmen 5 (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Images

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Bois des Geants - dolmen 1 (Passage Grave) — Images

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Dolmen du Champ Vermeil (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Images

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Menhir de la Caucalière (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Fieldnotes

Approximate coordinates only

I was unable find (or even look for) this for extremely frustrating reasons, see my notes for Dolmen de la Caucalière.

Dolmen de la Caucalière (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Fieldnotes

Approximate coordinates only

I didn't find this but I didn't really get a chance with some ill-luck. Bruno Marc's description in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon says it's about 400m to the west of Flouirac farm with private access. (There's also the Menhir de la Caucalière near it.)

When I arrived at the farm there was nobody about to ask even after knocking at the door. So I was was just going to write a note to put on the windscreen of my car & set off anyway, when an elderly woman called from the upstairs window. She spoke unusually perfect English but what she said, I didn't want to hear. She claimed that there was no dolmen other than Dolmen de Flouirac back down on the road!

I'm not sure if this was a blatant lie, but there wasn't much I could do. It did occur to me to drive back down to the road, park, and then sneak back on foot. But I didn't really have time & wasn't comfortable enough with that degree of subterfuge.

I've been unable to find any photos or confirmation that the site still exists, though a quick Google search shows it is mentioned on some geocaching websites - suggesting it's still there....

Dispirited by 2 failures in a row & pressed for time, I went back down to the road & after another vague scan for Dolmen de Flouirac, I started the long drive back to Arles.

Dolmen de Flouirac (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Fieldnotes

Approximate coordinates only

I couldn't spot this one from the road, but had a long journey back to our cottage near Arles ahead of me and a couple of other more promising (I thought) dolmens to try to find. I've seen photos of it & it's a nice little thing! (Curses - especially as I couldn't find the others I'd got planned!)

Apparently it's very close to the road but difficult to spot as it's masked by bushes.

Dolmen du Barral (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Fieldnotes

Location slightly doubtful: I've placed this where I remember it, which fits in with Bruno Marc's description in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon (which is how I found it) so I'd have thought it must be right. It also looks about right on Googlemaps. However, it may be worth knowing that http://www.t4t35.fr puts it at the other end of the village on the other side (south) of the road.

Access: Visible from the road across a field just past the last buildings of the little village of Le Barral. Bruno Marc & I reckon it's on the eastern edge of the village, to the north of the road. Seems to be on private property with no obvious access.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
A ruined but easily recognisable little dolmen built into a field wall. I didn't try to approach it (see above) but just used a big lens....

Dolmen du Barral (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Images

<b>Dolmen du Barral</b>Posted by Moth<b>Dolmen du Barral</b>Posted by Moth

Menhir des Combes (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Fieldnotes

Access: Easy - a short 100-200m walk along the tarmaced road from the wide farmtrack junction to the west where I parked for Menhir d'Avernat. Not sure if there's anywhere closer.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Another nice large characterful menhir, perfectly matching its partner Menhir d'Avernat on the other side of the road to the west.

Menhir des Combes (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Images

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Menhir d'Avernat (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Fieldnotes

Access: Easy - right by the road & with a wide farmtrack junction to park in.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
A nice large characterful menhir. Look out for its partner Menhir des Combes on the other side of the road to the east.

Menhir d'Avernat (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Images

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Cromlech de Lacam de la Rigalderie (Cromlech (France and Brittany)) — Fieldnotes

Access: Fairly easy - it's pretty close to the road & unlike Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines, there are gates (I think!) It is on a bit of a slope, but it's fairly gentle.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
I couldn't believe it! Nearly as amazing & bonkers as Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines that I'd just come from! Another of the most spectacular sites I've ever been to and a bit more photogenic than Lacam de Peyrarines as it's on a slope.

Like Peyrarines, it's HUGE although quite a lot of stones are fallen or missing, especially on the east side (& the south I think, and others are hidden by bushes).

I (rightly in the end) figured the day could only go downhill from here, as I sat eating my lunch in the tiny bit of shade behind the largest stone to shelter from the blazing sun.

Cromlech de Lacam de la Rigalderie (Cromlech (France and Brittany)) — Images

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Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines (Cromlech (France and Brittany)) — Images

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Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines (Cromlech (France and Brittany)) — Fieldnotes

Access: Should be easy - it's right next to the road. However, there was no easy access to the field (that I could find) other than hopping over the fence. I'm also sure I got some weird looks from passing locals. Perhaps it's supposed to be no access, so you ain't seen me, right?

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Amazing! Bonkers! One of the most spectacular sites I've ever been to. It's HUGE and although some stones are fallen or missing, there are still far more than I could be bothered to count!

Spent ages trying, fairly unsuccessfully, to just get my head around the place & trying to photograph it. And I was virtually trotting around it as a result of a growing feeling that I wasn't really supposed to be there (I could just be paranoid!)

One thing I learnt - if you ask me, it's impossible to do the site as a whole justice in a photograph, except mebbe from the air.

Dolmen de Planas (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) — Fieldnotes

Access: Easy - right next to road. Not sure if there any gates to go through - sorry, it was 2 years ago....

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Oo, nice! A dolmen still in its mound with a nice (exposed) entrance passage.

Allegedly, between here & Menhir de Serre de la Gleisa there is a ruined cromlech. I suspect there's nothing to see, as Bruno Marc doesn't mention it in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon, but I could be wrong.
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www.heritageaction.org - ordinary people caring for extraordinary places

MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MOTH

How?
Though I'd been interested in both for a long while, I finally got into stones & Cope relatively late in life and at around the same time (mid 90s). I guess my girlfriend at the time has to take the blame. She bought me 'Peggy Suicide' and she used to get those nice megalithic postcards from Mr Julian.

Why?
At first, looking at stones seemed just like a good excuse for stomping around in beautiful countryside. Little did I know how much more it would become. And that they're not always in beautiful countryside....

Where?
At the time I was living in Tufnell Park in London so started off with a lot of southern stones 'n' bumps, particularly on holidays to Devon, the Lands End peninsula and the west country in general. Since then, holidays became increasingly megalithacentric, and are now mainly wildlifecentric (tho often with some stones thrown in)!

A couple of years later I moved back to Leeds where I lived for much of my adult life (I'm originally from Kent) prompting numerous visits to stones 'n' bumps in places like Derbyshire, Cumbria, N Wales and of course Yorkshire. I now live near Oxford (see 'Life?').

I've seen stones all over the UK & further afield, including (but not limited to) bits of France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Menorca, Sardinia & even Jordan.

Strangely enough however, my most visited and probably favourite 'stony areas' are Aberdeenshire and Perthshire, though I've been to quite a few all over Scotland. This is again thanks to a (different) ex-girlfriend who comes from Montrose and is the mother of my glorious son Callan, who at the time of updating is now 21....

As you may have guessed, Callan is named after Callanish - at the time of his birth this was a long intended but unmade pilgrimage for me. Happily I've now been twice & hope to go again for the next 're-gleam'.

Life?
Currently living just to the north-west of Oxford with the gorgeous Jane (we got married in October 2004). Seafer (Jane's dangerous 'n' stripey cat) is no more and for the last 8 years we've been in the custody of Officer Dibble and Skipper (also cats). Jane's also responsible for increasing my love of travel & the expansion of my love of wildlife!

I'm an editor really, but now have a nice easy admin job 4-days a week working for a tiny IT training company who do expensive niche training for IT professionals.

Fun?
In a varying order

Travel
Wildlife & bird photography and watching
Stones, walking, and the countryside, obviously
Various music, especially heavy rock and funk
Real ale & real ale pubs (though as Jane can't drink for medical reasons we don't often go to pubs)
Single malts
Bourbon (of the whisky persuasion - not the biccies)
Red wine
Cheese
Roast tatties and chips (not usually together)
Chocolate
A lot of other food that never had a face
F1
Talking bollocks
Sarcasm
Laughing
Having a good moan, especially about the Tories

Vital statistics?
Height 5'8"
Chest N/K (medium t-shirt size)
Waist 32-34" depending how fat I happen to be at the time
Inside leg 32"
Aged 60 but we don't talk about that
Hair Long mostly grey (used to be brown)

love

Moth
updated 2 September 2022

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